Well, you know, I understand your disappointment on behalf of your kids, but it might have been the 4 yr old... and right next door, no one might have been watching so closely. It may not have been done maliciously.... (If it was, though, I agree that the attitude of their mother leaves something to be desired.)
Tags can be lost for other reasons too -- sometimes birds and animals pull them out (I've had a bird fly off with one once -- for what reason I have NO IDEA!
) or someone can accidentally knock them over, bury them, step on them, etc. Handwritten tags can fade or get grimed over with dirt.
So, next time, encourage your kids to draw a map of the garden -- graph paper works well and it's kind of educational too
, for them to take measurements of the garden area and mark down where all the plants were (or will be) planted.
It helps, too, if you show the neighborhood kids your garden. Even little ones like 3 yr olds and 4 yr olds will ask you what you're doing and ask to help. There's a 7 yr old boy that my kids are friends with -- lives a few houses down the street -- He proudly told us that he has his own little garden bed this spring and he gets to pick whatever he wants to grow. Not to be outdone, my kids showed him THEIR own garden beds.
What should I do. 